Method of refrigerating and drying gases.



)1 J5 5 .35 t J6 W 0. H. L EINERT.

METHOD OF REPEIGERATING AND DRYING GASES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19, 1910.

wsmt t Patented sept. 24, 1912.

2 SHEETS SHEBT 1.

lnuenjlofr was C. H; LEINERT.

METHOD OF REPBIGEEATING AND DRYING GASES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1a, 1910.

LU89, 1&9, Pa en ed Sept. 24, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Illinois, have invented certain new and uselowing is a specification.

. mp sra'rns PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. LEINERT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF REFRIGERATI Application filed August 19,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES H. LEINERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of iul- Improvements in Methods for Refrigerating and Drying Gases, of which the fol- My invention relates to methods for refrigerating and drying gases and is particularly adapted for use in drying the air used for the blast of blast furnaces.

In my eopending. application, Serial Number 557,225, filed April 28, 1910, I have described apparatus for accomplishing the refrigerating'and drying of gases, but in my present application while much of the apparatus used in carrying out my improved method is much similar to that described in my copending application, above mentioned, I make use of an improved method which greatly increases the efiiciency of my apparatus and reduces both its original cost of installation and cost of operation. I y

The fundamental improvement embodied in my present invention consists in the use of a method of cooling the gases by which the penetration of outside heat to the chambers and passages where the gases are brought to their lowest temperature, is effectuallytprevented. I accomplish this re-' sult by first introducing the air or other gases into preliminary cooling chambers which are located on opposite sides of the cooling tower. In passing through these chambers, which are independently supplied with air by rotary fans or other suitable means, the temperature "of the air is reduced from that/ of the outside atmosphere 'to approximately 40 Fahrenheit. The air from each of the preliminary cooling chambers next passes through a passagelocated on the inner side of each cooling chamber and in this passage it is cooled approximately 2 Fahrenheit. The air next enters at the bottom of each of the final cooling chambers, and in passing through the same is cooled from approximately 38 to 18 Fahrenheit. The air fin'ally passes downwardly through ,a central passage which is located between the two final cooling chambers and into which they both open. From this central passage the air passes to theintake of the blowing engines. From this general descriptionof my im- NG AND DRYING GASES.

Specification of'Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 24, 1,912.

1910. Serial Nu. 577,929.

the two final cooling chambers which have the lowest temperature of: any of the chambers or passages in the apparatus, and increase in'the temperature of the air is thus efi'ectually prevented. Similarly the final cooling chambers are themselves protected on their outer sides from the access of the heat oi' the outside atmosphere by means of the' two preliminary cooling chambers. In this way it is possible to maintain a lower temperature more economically in the final coo-ling chambers.

During the winter time the atmospheric air is, of course, at a much lower temperat-urethan during the summer, and for this reason I have employed, in the apparatus;

for carrying out my improved method, means for introducing air at a suitable point in the cooling tower. Thus when the outside temperature is in excess of 40 Fahrenheit, I pass the air through both the preliminary and final cooling chambers of the cooling tower. If the temperature -is between 20 and 40,jf however, I pass the air only through the tidal cooling chambers, and if the temperature is below 20 Fahrenheit, I cut out the cooling tower entirely and introduce the air directly to the intake of the blowing engines.

In conducting air to a blowing engine considerable difficulty is often encountered by reason of pulsations which are given to the air by the action of the blowing engines. In my improved method of cooling the air,

.however,-th'e preliminary'ehamber is con-.

structed of considerably larger size than the final cooling chamber, and for this reason there is a constant supply of air available, the pressure maintained in the preliminary cooling chamber being in the vicinity of three ounces above atmospheric pressure. If the air is introduced directly into the final cooling chamber, as whenrthe outside temperature is between 20 and 40 Fahrenheit,I have provided mean'sby which the communication between the passage leading from. the preliminary cooling chamber to the final cooling chamber is interrupted, thereby causing the preliminary chamber to act as a wind chamber in a manner similar to the wind chamber of" an ordinary water pump, and thus decrease the effect of the pulsations caused by the blowing engines.

Another advantage of my invention consists in the method which I use for forcing the air to the refrigerating apparatus. The air first passes upwardly through the preliminary cooling chamber, then downwardly through a passage into the final cooling chamber and. then upwardly through the final cooling chamber. By this method of; forcing the air. through the apparatus an efiicient distribution of the air is obtained through the cooling medium. As the'air passes-upwardly through the two chambers I containing the cooling medium, this air gradually grows heavier and thereby serves to cause the air to spread laterally, givin a good distribution throughout the entire chamber and thereby avoiding channeling.

These and other advantages of my in- Ventionwill-be more apparent by reference to the accompanying drawings which represent a preferred form of apparatus by which my method may be. carried out and in which: i

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the cooling tower, and Fi 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

I will first describe the apparatus by which my method is carried out, after which the method itself will be readily understood.

Located at the sides of the cooling tower are the 'preliminarv cooling chambers 10,' 10 which are pre erably transversely di- I -vided by means of the partitions 11, 11 in order to more advantageously accommodate the large volume of air passing therethrough. The air is supplied to the preliminary cooling chambers by means of the rotary fans 12 which ar e driven by any suitable source of power as will be readily-linderstood. Extending horizontally across each of the preliminary cooling chambers 10 in a plane ust above the rotary fans 12, is the'series of louvers 13 which .may be op erated 'by any suitable mechanism passing to the-outside of the main casing of the cooling tower. Abovethe louvers 13 is a series of screens or chain-plates 14, the function I v of which is to distribute cold water descend- .ing from above sothat a large surface of water will be exposed to the action of the air which passes upwardly through the chamber as will be described hereafter. These chainplates or screens are suitably supported by means of rods passing across each of the chambers 10. .Located above the screens 14 is a series of pipes 15 which extend in a horizontal plane in a longitudinal direction. These pipes are for the purpose of distributing water in order to cause it to present a large surface area in much the same way that this result is'attained by the screens or chain plates 14. These pipes may be re placed by rods or bars, but I prefer to use pipes as shown which are connected on their ends with the vertical headerslG, which, in turn communicate through small pipes 17 I Located inside of eac with the horizontal headers 18. The head ers 18 and 16 may be supplied with liquid ammonia in the well known manner, and in this way the pipes 15 may be cooled and thus exercise a further positive cooling action on the descending water. In most cases, however, I rely on the cooling means which will presently be described, and this positive cooling of the water as it passes over the pipes 15 is. unnecessary.

Directly above the pipes 15 is located the series of troughs 19 which are supplied with water through-the pipes 20 leading from the tanks 21. As the troughs 19 are filled with water, the same overflows and passes down- \vardly over the pipes 15 and thence on to the screens 14 and finally accumulates in the troughs 22 located in the bottoms of the chambers 10. Each of the troughs 22 is provided with an outlet 23 which has therein a valve which is'controlled by suitable floatv mechanism 24 so thatwhen the water reaches a predetermined height in the trough 22, the valve in the outlet 23 is opened and the water passes intothe pipe 25. This pipe 25 is located in the upper part of the cooling reservoir 26 which is located below the cooling vtower. This. reservoir is preferably constructed of cement and is provided with heat insulating air spaces 27. The ammonia pipes 28 extend through this cooling reservoir, and are supplied with liquid ammonia in any of the well known ways. The pipe 25 is provided with a plurality of small outlet pipes 29 which conduct water to the troughs 30. 'As the water overflows from these troughs, it trickles down over the pipes 28 and s cooled, thereby accumulating in the bottom of the cooling reservoir'26.

Leading from the bottom of the cooling reservoir 26 is the pipe 31 which is connected with the pump 32. The pipe 33 leads to the upper portion ofeach of the chambers 10 and serves to supply water to the tanks 21. Leading downwardly just inside of each of the chambers 10, is the passage 34.

In the lower portionof the wall separating these louvers is the damper 36 which is controlled from the outside of the cooling tower and which when turned into its horizontal position'against the stop 37 interrupts communication between the upper and lower portions of each of the passages! 34.

passage '34 and toward the central portion of the cooling tower, are the two final cooling chambers 38 which connect with the passages 34 through the openings 39. Each of the final cooling chambers 38 is supplied with a plurality of horizontally and longitudinally extending pipes 40 which are located between the headammonia through the horizontal headers 42,

' the pipes 43 serving to connect the headers 4-1 with the headers 42. Just above the upper headers 42 are the pipes 44 which are longitudinally spliton their upper portions and are connected with the header 45. Each of the headers 45 is, in turn, connected with a pipe 46 which leads from the calcium chlorid reservoir 47. The calcium chlorid supplied from this reservoir passes out of the slits in the pipes 44 and then passes downwardly over the ammonia cooled-pipes.v

40. This thin film of calcium chlorid prevents theformation office on the surface of the pipes 40. The calciumchlorid passing downwardly over the pipes 40 accumulates in the troughs 48 in the bottom of each chamber 38.

turn, connected with the pipe 50. Pipe 50 leads to a pump which serves to elevate the calcium chlorid accumulating in the troughs 48 to the reservoir 47. An overflow 51 is provided in each of the troughs 48, this overflow serving to lead the calcium-chlorid to a concentrator when the solution becomes too dilute. 7 I v The upper portion of each of the' final cooling chambers 38 connects with the central passage 52, a damper or valve 53 controlled by the hand wheel 54 being located in the aperture between each of the final cooling chambers and the centralpassage 52. The purpose of these dampers 53 is to regulate the flow of air through the cooling tower and particularly its admission to the blowing engines. The passage 52' communi-- cates with the pipe 55, whiclnafter passing horizontally to the exterior of the cooling tower, passes downwardly and communicates with the intake 56 of the blowing en gine.. At the point where the pipe or tube 55 changes from a horizontal to a vertical direction, an upstanding portion of tube 57 is provided which is covered by the weight controlled hinged valve valve, .in its normal closed position, prevents the access of airdirectly from the exterior to theintake of the blowing engines, but when the weight 59 is oved to the end of the arm 60, the valve 58 1s raised and air flows directly from the exterior. to the intake pipe 56. A suitable housing 61 is built around this valve in order to revent admission of rain, snow, dust, and t e like.

Having thus described the construction of the apparatus used in my improved method, the method itself may now be readily understood. The air to be cooled is first forced into the preliminary cooling chambers 10 by the rotary fans 12. As previously explained, cooled water passes downwardly throu h the reliminary cooling chambers 10't rough t e louvers l3, ,whici The outlet pipe 49 connectswith the bottom of each trough 48 and is in' pr cap 58. This,

are normally open. The air in passing upwardly through the chambers 10 is cooled mately three ounces -above atmospheric pressure. The air next passes downwardly through the passages 34."'The louvers 35- are normally closed so that the air then passes into the lower portions of the final;

cooling chambers 38. When the air reaches the lower ends of the passages 34, its temperature has been reduced from 40 to ap-' proximately 38. As previously explained, the pipes 40 are cooled by the evaporation of liquid ammonia and moisture is prevented from congealing on the surface of the same by meansof the film of calcium chlo- The pressure in the prelimi-. nary cooling chambers remains {approxirid. The air in-passing upwardly through these final cooling chambers is still further cooled by the pipes 40 so that when it reaches the tops of these chambers the temperature is approximately 18 Fahrenheit.

The air from both of the final cooling chame bers 38 then passes through the apertures controlled by the dampers 53 into thecentral passage 52. From this passage'the air passes into the tube 55 and into the intake 56 leading to the blowing engines. In case the temperature of the outside air is between 20 and40 Fahrenheit 'the preliminary chambers 10 are not used for cooling I purposes. In this case the dampers 36 are turned into their horizontal positions, thus interrupting communication between the passages 34-and't-he final cooling chambers 38; The louvers 35 are opened, and the air is thereby caused to pass directly from the rotary fans, 12, between the louvers 35 and from the "openings 39, into the lower p'ortions of the final cooling chambers 38. In-

carrying outthis operation, the louvers 13 may be closed if desired,'but I prefer to leave them gpen so that the preliminary cooling chambers act as wind chambers,

thereby reducing pulsations caused by the blowing engines. As previously explained,.

when the temperature of the outside air is below 20 Fahrenheit, the cooling tower is entirely out out from operation and air is admitted directly to the intake 56 by opening the valve 58.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes might be made in the exact details of the method which I have described without departing from the spirit of my invention. For example, the passages connecting the cooling chambers may be isposed in various manners, and a great variety of cooling devices maybe used within the cooling chambers themselves, thus changing to some degree the operation of my method. Broadly considered, however,-

my methodconsists 1n refrigerating air or other gases by first subjecting the same to the action of a-prelimi'nary cooling medium and then to the action of "asecond cooling unedium from which the radiation of cold wardly in opposite directions toward oneanother, each current of gas being divided into a plurality of upwardly traveling currents and at least one downwardly traveling cu r-. rent of gas located between and out of, con-- tact withth'eupwardly traveling currents of gas and leading from the upper portion of one upwardly traveling current of gas to the lower portion of the next succeeding upwardly traveling current of gas, mingling the two currents of gas into a single current of gas, and subjecting the upwardly traveling currents of gas to a refrigerating medium.

2. The herein described method of treatinggases which consists in maintaining two independent currents of gas traveling inwardly in opposite directions toward one another, each current of as being divided into a plurality of upwar traveling currents and at least one downwardly-traveling current of gas located between and out of contact with the" upwardl y traveling currents of gas and leading from the upper portion of one upwardly traveling'currentof gas to-the lower portion of, the next succeeding upwardly travelingcurrent of gas, mingling the two currents of gas into 'a single downwardly traveling currentof gas located between and o t of contact with the innermost upwardly {traveling portions of thetwo currents, and subjecting the upwardly traveling currents of gas to a rcfrigerating medium. 1

3. The herein described method of treating gases which consists in maintaining two independent currents of gas traveling inwardly in opposite directions towardone another, each current of gas being divided into a plurality of upwardly traveling currents and atleast one downwardly traveling current of gas located between and out of contact with the upwardly traveling curr'entsof gas and leading from the upper portion of one upwardly traveling current of gas to the lower portion of the next succeedinggupwardly traveling current of gas, mingling the two currents of gas into a single downwardly/tfiveling current of gas located.

between and-out of contact with theinner- -most upwardly traveling portions of'the two currents, and permitting a cooling liquid to through the upwardly traveling substantially as and for the purpose described. 1

gravitate currents of gas,

CHAS.' H.- LEINERT. Witnesses:

WM. 0. BELT, M. 'A. KIDDIE.- 

